In the field of software engineering, technical skills often dominate the conversation, with a strong focus on precision, efficiency and measurable results.

However, there is a critical but frequently overlooked skill that can significantly influence the success of projects and products: empathy. 

While it may seem counterintuitive to associate a deep understanding of others’ feelings with a technical practice like engineering, industry leaders are beginning to recognize the profound impact that empathetic practices can have on innovation and productivity.

Sanchit Balchandani, Engineering Manager II at EPAM, shares how empathy, among other soft skills, has helped grow his career over the past several years. He explains the role of empathy in engineering and how it can help others in the tech industry build better client relationships, create better products, build more harmonious teams and chart successful careers.

“I have been working in the IT industry for almost 15 years. During the past seven years, I’ve also been leading small to mid-size software development teams,” says Sanchit. “From my experience working with people from different cultures and at different levels, whether it’s peers, managers, senior management or customers, the one thing that makes people stand out is empathy.”

Working with Fellow Engineers

So, how can the practice of empathy improve our day-to-day interactions as engineers? One example is Pull Request (PR) Reviews, the process where a developer submits code changes to a team for examination and feedback before merging those changes into the main codebase. This allows other developers to review the code, leave comments and suggest improvements before approving the changes to be integrated. PR reviews are a very important engineering practice, but can sometimes lead to disagreements among team members.

“PR reviews are not about finding ‘X’ number of issues in someone else's work; they’re about successful collaboration and creating a good coding practice. Any conflict can be avoided or easily resolved if the PR review process involves empathy,” Sanchit explains. “As a developer, when you code with empathy in mind, you take greater [personal] responsibility and do your best to reduce small and avoidable errors before forwarding it for review. Similarly, as a PR reviewer, empathetic understanding can help you collaborate better and reach solutions faster.”

Interacting with Clients

It takes a combination of technical ability and soft skill mastery to successfully nurture client relationships. Engineers tend to think from a technical standpoint, which often differs from a client’s understanding of things, especially if they don’t have a technical background. In these instances, it is the developer's responsibility to understand, ask questions, listen and adapt.

The more you understand the client’s perspective, the more informed you will be and the better the product will turn out. When providing updates to clients, we need to help them understand the progress status without using technical terms  –  helping clients make informed decisions and ensuring the product better meets their expectations.

Leading a Team

Empathy is a must-have quality for modern-day industry leaders. Leaders work with people who have different skill sets, temperaments, backgrounds and cultures.

“During the pandemic, as my team grew significantly, managing with empathy was vital in navigating challenges like virtual meetings, reduced real-time collaboration and initial productivity dips,” reflects Sanchit. “By recognizing these limitations and offering support, we helped team members adapt to the new workflow. Even now, working in a hybrid or remote setup comes with challenges, but managing with empathy helps maintain trust within the team and ensures everyone performs at their best.”

Sanchit continues, “Creating an environment where people feel safe to express ideas and take risks is crucial. Empathy enables this, encouraging engineers to experiment, contribute to open-source projects or take on internal accelerators. I’ve also supported peers in stepping into leadership roles, showing trust in their abilities and covering for them when needed, which made a significant difference in their growth.”

Impact on End Users

Empathy is critical in engineering because it connects technical work to human impact. It’s not just about leading teams; it’s also about designing solutions that solve real problems for end-users. Understanding the needs and challenges of users and the people you work with ensures that solutions are functional and meaningful.

Managing with empathy fosters trust, reduces conflicts and drives better outcomes. Like technical skills, it can and should be honed over time through active listening, reflection and a willingness to see things from other people’s perspectives.

This shift in perspective is transformative in the engineering industry, changing the way teams function and how products are designed and received by end users. Engineers often act in critical development roles and functions, including business analysis, testing, DevOps and maintenance. Engineers must have various hard and soft skills in their toolkits to achieve innovative, user-centric products that resonate with users and appeal to a wide range of demographics.

“I hope it’s evident that empathy is not only a feeling but a much-needed skill of any modern engineer,” Sanchit says. “Like any other skill, you’ll need to practice by implementing empathy into everyday life. Personally, I analyze some of my conversations retrospectively and reflect on what could be done better next time.”

“You can also start practicing empathy with the task at hand,” notes Sanchit. “When you are creating a product, keep the end user in mind — how they would interact with it, what they really need and what would make it successful for them. Other simple ways include adding application programming interface (API) documentation, which makes it easier for others to use your APIs, and, of course, making your code readable so that another developer won’t have a hard time understanding it.”

Sanchit leaves us with a final perspective, “Ultimately, empathy is an acquired skill that will reward you with trust, clarity and perspective.”

If you are interested in a career at EPAM, visit epam.com/careers to apply today!